St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing

This guide to teaching writing and to major theoretical issues—including current central concerns of rhetoric and composition—contains a brief anthology of scholarly essays and coverage of constructing successful assignments using visual, oral, and electronic texts; teaching multilingual writers; and using technology in the writing classroom. This new edition includes additional practical advice for dealing with classroom issues and helpful guidance for sequencing assignments, teaching revision, using online peer review, and working toward student transference of knowledge and skills.

Table of Contents

ContentsPART I CLASSROOM ISSUES 1 Preparing for the Course FINDING OUT ABOUT THE COURSECHOOSING THE TEXTBOOKS*MULTIMODAL LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES *LINKS TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: SERVICE LEARNING, COMMUNITY-BASED LITERACY PROJECTS, AND PUBLIC WRITING INITIATIVESCREATING A SYLLABUS SAMPLE SYLLABI WORKS CITED 2 The First Few Days of Classes THE FIRST CLASS Bureaucratic Tasks The Syllabus Introductions Dismissal THE SECOND CLASS Bureaucratic Tasks Diagnostic Essay Dismissal After the Second Class THE THIRD CLASS LESSON PLANS WORKS CITED 3 Everyday Activities CLASSROOM ORDER AND GROUP ETHOS CLASSROOM ROUTINES Limiting Lectures Leading Effective Class Discussions In-Class Writing Teaching in Wired, Wireless, and Hybrid Classrooms COLLABORATION: WORKSHOPS AND PEER RESPONSE Whole-Class Workshops Peer-Response Groups Tasks for Peer-Response Groups Online and Electronic Peer Response Evaluating Peer-Response Groups Understanding Cultural and Multilingual Differences in Peer-Response Groups Student Conferences Scripting the Conference EVERYBODY’S ISSUES Absenteeism and Tardiness Late Essays *Class Cancellations *Use of Personal Technology in the Classroom *Disruptive Students *Disabilities and Learning Differences Plagiarism, Intellectual Property, and Academic Integrity WORKS CITED 4 Successful Writing Assignments ASSIGNMENTS Defining Good Assignments Assignment Sequences Research Assignments Web Assignments Assignments Delivered Orally Assignments That Call for the Use of Visual Components *Multimodal Assignments Creating Assignments and Explaining Them to Students REVISION WORKS CITED 5 Evaluating Student Essays STANDARDS AND EVALUATION Formal Standards Standards of Content Evaluating Formal Standards and Standards of Content When Responding to ESL Student Writing GENERAL ROUTINES FOR EVALUATION MARGINAL COMMENTS TERMINAL COMMENTS THE GRADE METHODS AND CRITERIA FOR GRADING Course-Based Grading Criteria Rubrics Contract Grading Portfolio Grading *HANDLING THE PAPER LOADTHE END OF THE TERM Final Grades STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF COURSE AND TEACHER AFTERWORD WORKS CITED PART II RHETORICAL PRACTICES 6 Teaching Invention BRINGING THE RHETORICAL CANON OF INVENTION INTO THE WRITING CLASSROOM HEURISTIC SYSTEMS OF INVENTION Using Heuristic Strategies in the Classroom CLASSICAL TOPICAL INVENTION Using Classical Topical Invention in the Classroom JOURNAL WRITING Using Journals in the Classroom Evaluating Journals BRAINSTORMING Using Brainstorming in the Classroom CLUSTERING Using Clustering in the Classroom FREEWRITING Using Freewriting in the Classroom The Benefits of Freewriting WORKS CITED 7 Teaching Arrangement and Form RHETORICAL FORM CLASSICALLY DESCENDED ARRANGEMENTS The Three-Part Arrangement Using the Three-Part Arrangement in the Classroom An Exercise for Small Groups The Four-Part Arrangement Using the Four-Part Arrangement in the Classroom *The Six-Part Arrangement *Using the Six-Part Arrangement in the Classroom OTHER PATTERNS OF ARRANGEMENT Arrangements for Rhetorical Methods Arrangements for Creative Nonfiction Essays Using Arrangements for Creative Nonfiction Essays in the Classroom An Exercise for Linking Invention and Arrangement *Arrangement and Multimodal Writing *Considering Arrangement for New Media in the Classroom TECHNIQUES OF EDITING AND PLANNING Using the Outline in the Classroom Using Winterowd’s "Grammar of Coherence" Technique in the Classroom WORKS CITED 8 Teaching Style STYLE: THEORY AND PEDAGOGIC PRACTICE Milic’s Three Theories of Style A Pedagogic Focus on Rhetorical Choices Choosing a Rhetorical Stance Considering the Audience for Student Essays LEVELS OF STYLE EXERCISES FOR DEVELOPING STYLE IMITATION Using Imitation Exercises in the Classroom LANGUAGE VARIETY Teaching an Awareness of Language Variety Language Varieties and Varying Syntax ALTERNATE STYLES: GRAMMAR B Using Alternate Styles in the Classroom Evaluating Alternate Styles WORKS CITED 9 Teaching Memory MEMORY AND COMPOSITION STUDIES REMEMBERING AND MAKING WRITING MEMORABLE: TEACHING MEMOIR AND PERSONAL WRITING Invention Memory as Communal Research Experience, Image, Idea *COLLECTIVE MEMORY *ConsideringCollective Memory in the Writing Classroom: A Multimodal Approach WORKS CITED 10 Teaching Delivery DELIVERING WRITING, Delivering Pedagogy THE CHANGING NATURE OF WRITING, READING, AUDIENCE, AND CONTEXT Establishing Goals—and Delivering on Them Other Options for Exploring Multiple Modes of Delivery UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE LITERACIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON DELIVERY One Approach to Considering Multiple Literacies: Defining Computer Literacies Using Selber’s Approach in the Classroom Expanding Consideration of Multiple Literacies in the Classroom DELIVERING PEDAGOGY: EXTRA-TEXTUAL SPACES One Approach to Delivery in Extra-Textual Spaces Using Taylor’s Approach in the Classroom WORKS CITED 11 Invitation to Further Study WAYS INTO THE SCHOLARLY AND PEDAGOGIC CONVERSATION COMPOSITION/RHETORIC AND ITS CONCERNS central CONCERNS The Content of First-Year Writing and Transfer *Disciplinarity and Assessment *Diversity and Difference ANOTHER INVITATION TO FURTHER RESEARCH WORKS CITED SUGGESTED REaDINGS FOR TEACHERS OF WRITING Bibliographies and Other Reference Works Rhetorical History, Theory, and Practice Composition History and Theory Composition Practice and Pedagogy Literacy Studies Axes of Difference Computers, Technology, and New Media FY Writing Programs: Models and Administrative Practices Pedagogic Issues for College Teachers PART III AN ANTHOLOGY OF ESSAYS INTRODUCTION work cited *Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle, Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re)Envisioning "First-Year Composition" as "Introduction to Writing Studies" *Donald M. Murray, The Teaching Craft: Telling, Listening, Revealing Wendy Bishop, Helping Peer Writing Groups Succeed *Muriel Harris, Talking in the Middle: Why Writers Need Writing Tutors Nancy Sommers, Responding to Student Writing *Andrea A. Lunsford and Karen J. Lunsford, "Mistakes are a Fact of Life": A National Comparative Study *Amy J. Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff, Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities Mike Rose, The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University Jacqueline Jones Royster, When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own *Stephanie L. Kerschbaum, Avoiding the Difference Fixation: Identity Categories, Markers of Difference, and the Teaching of Writing Ilona Leki, Meaning and Development of Academic Literacy in a Second Language *Paul Kei Matsuda, The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition *Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, Jacqueline Jones Royster, and John Trimbur, OPINION: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach Cynthia L. Selfe, Toward New Media Texts: Taking Up the Challenges of Visual Literacy *Anne Frances Wysocki, awaywithwords: On the Possibilities in Unavailable Designs *Cheryl Glenn, 2008 CCCC Chair’s Address: Representing OurselvesAcknowledgmentsIndex

Cheryl Glenn

Cheryl Glenn is Liberal Arts Research Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Before moving to Penn State, she taught at Oregon State University, where she earned a number of research and teaching awards and established the Center for Teaching Excellence. She also teaches at the Bread Loaf School of English, a summer graduate program for secondary teachers held in Vermont and New Mexico. Glenn’s scholarly work focuses on contexts and processes for the teaching of writing, histories of women’s rhetorics and writing practices, and inclusionary rhetorical practices and theories. Her many scholarly publications include Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity Through the Renaissance; Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence; Rhetorical Education in America; The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing; The Writer’s Harbrace Handbook; Making Sense: A Real-World Rhetorical Reader; and The Harbrace Guide for College Writers. She and J. Michael Hogan coedit Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation, a Pennsylvania State University Press series. With Shirley Wilson Logan, she coedits the Southern Illinois University Press series, Studies in Rhetorics and Feminisms. Glenn’s rhetorical scholarship has earned her three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), book awards from Choice and from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, a Best Article of the Year Award from College Composition and Communication, and an Outstanding Article Award from Rhetoric Review. She also has won four teaching awards. She has recently served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), and also serves in a variety of other leadership roles at Penn State and for the National Council of Teachers of English, the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, the Modern Language Association, the Rhetoric Society of America, and NEH.

Melissa A. Goldthwaite

Melissa A. Goldthwaite teaches rhetorical theory, composition, and creative writing (poetry writing, creative nonfiction, food writing, and nature writing) at Saint Joseph’s University, where she is Professor of English. For Bedford/St. Martin’s she is co-author with Cheryl Glenn of The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing. Her work has appeared in College English, Writing on the Edge, Reader, and in numerous books.

Your Guide to Teaching Writing is now better than ever

This guide to teaching writing and to major theoretical issues—including current central concerns of rhetoric and composition—contains a brief anthology of scholarly essays and coverage of constructing successful assignments using visual, oral, and electronic texts; teaching multilingual writers; and using technology in the writing classroom. This new edition includes additional practical advice for dealing with classroom issues and helpful guidance for sequencing assignments, teaching revision, using online peer review, and working toward student transference of knowledge and skills.

Table of Contents

ContentsPART I CLASSROOM ISSUES 1 Preparing for the Course FINDING OUT ABOUT THE COURSECHOOSING THE TEXTBOOKS*MULTIMODAL LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES *LINKS TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: SERVICE LEARNING, COMMUNITY-BASED LITERACY PROJECTS, AND PUBLIC WRITING INITIATIVESCREATING A SYLLABUS SAMPLE SYLLABI WORKS CITED 2 The First Few Days of Classes THE FIRST CLASS Bureaucratic Tasks The Syllabus Introductions Dismissal THE SECOND CLASS Bureaucratic Tasks Diagnostic Essay Dismissal After the Second Class THE THIRD CLASS LESSON PLANS WORKS CITED 3 Everyday Activities CLASSROOM ORDER AND GROUP ETHOS CLASSROOM ROUTINES Limiting Lectures Leading Effective Class Discussions In-Class Writing Teaching in Wired, Wireless, and Hybrid Classrooms COLLABORATION: WORKSHOPS AND PEER RESPONSE Whole-Class Workshops Peer-Response Groups Tasks for Peer-Response Groups Online and Electronic Peer Response Evaluating Peer-Response Groups Understanding Cultural and Multilingual Differences in Peer-Response Groups Student Conferences Scripting the Conference EVERYBODY’S ISSUES Absenteeism and Tardiness Late Essays *Class Cancellations *Use of Personal Technology in the Classroom *Disruptive Students *Disabilities and Learning Differences Plagiarism, Intellectual Property, and Academic Integrity WORKS CITED 4 Successful Writing Assignments ASSIGNMENTS Defining Good Assignments Assignment Sequences Research Assignments Web Assignments Assignments Delivered Orally Assignments That Call for the Use of Visual Components *Multimodal Assignments Creating Assignments and Explaining Them to Students REVISION WORKS CITED 5 Evaluating Student Essays STANDARDS AND EVALUATION Formal Standards Standards of Content Evaluating Formal Standards and Standards of Content When Responding to ESL Student Writing GENERAL ROUTINES FOR EVALUATION MARGINAL COMMENTS TERMINAL COMMENTS THE GRADE METHODS AND CRITERIA FOR GRADING Course-Based Grading Criteria Rubrics Contract Grading Portfolio Grading *HANDLING THE PAPER LOADTHE END OF THE TERM Final Grades STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF COURSE AND TEACHER AFTERWORD WORKS CITED PART II RHETORICAL PRACTICES 6 Teaching Invention BRINGING THE RHETORICAL CANON OF INVENTION INTO THE WRITING CLASSROOM HEURISTIC SYSTEMS OF INVENTION Using Heuristic Strategies in the Classroom CLASSICAL TOPICAL INVENTION Using Classical Topical Invention in the Classroom JOURNAL WRITING Using Journals in the Classroom Evaluating Journals BRAINSTORMING Using Brainstorming in the Classroom CLUSTERING Using Clustering in the Classroom FREEWRITING Using Freewriting in the Classroom The Benefits of Freewriting WORKS CITED 7 Teaching Arrangement and Form RHETORICAL FORM CLASSICALLY DESCENDED ARRANGEMENTS The Three-Part Arrangement Using the Three-Part Arrangement in the Classroom An Exercise for Small Groups The Four-Part Arrangement Using the Four-Part Arrangement in the Classroom *The Six-Part Arrangement *Using the Six-Part Arrangement in the Classroom OTHER PATTERNS OF ARRANGEMENT Arrangements for Rhetorical Methods Arrangements for Creative Nonfiction Essays Using Arrangements for Creative Nonfiction Essays in the Classroom An Exercise for Linking Invention and Arrangement *Arrangement and Multimodal Writing *Considering Arrangement for New Media in the Classroom TECHNIQUES OF EDITING AND PLANNING Using the Outline in the Classroom Using Winterowd’s "Grammar of Coherence" Technique in the Classroom WORKS CITED 8 Teaching Style STYLE: THEORY AND PEDAGOGIC PRACTICE Milic’s Three Theories of Style A Pedagogic Focus on Rhetorical Choices Choosing a Rhetorical Stance Considering the Audience for Student Essays LEVELS OF STYLE EXERCISES FOR DEVELOPING STYLE IMITATION Using Imitation Exercises in the Classroom LANGUAGE VARIETY Teaching an Awareness of Language Variety Language Varieties and Varying Syntax ALTERNATE STYLES: GRAMMAR B Using Alternate Styles in the Classroom Evaluating Alternate Styles WORKS CITED 9 Teaching Memory MEMORY AND COMPOSITION STUDIES REMEMBERING AND MAKING WRITING MEMORABLE: TEACHING MEMOIR AND PERSONAL WRITING Invention Memory as Communal Research Experience, Image, Idea *COLLECTIVE MEMORY *ConsideringCollective Memory in the Writing Classroom: A Multimodal Approach WORKS CITED 10 Teaching Delivery DELIVERING WRITING, Delivering Pedagogy THE CHANGING NATURE OF WRITING, READING, AUDIENCE, AND CONTEXT Establishing Goals—and Delivering on Them Other Options for Exploring Multiple Modes of Delivery UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE LITERACIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON DELIVERY One Approach to Considering Multiple Literacies: Defining Computer Literacies Using Selber’s Approach in the Classroom Expanding Consideration of Multiple Literacies in the Classroom DELIVERING PEDAGOGY: EXTRA-TEXTUAL SPACES One Approach to Delivery in Extra-Textual Spaces Using Taylor’s Approach in the Classroom WORKS CITED 11 Invitation to Further Study WAYS INTO THE SCHOLARLY AND PEDAGOGIC CONVERSATION COMPOSITION/RHETORIC AND ITS CONCERNS central CONCERNS The Content of First-Year Writing and Transfer *Disciplinarity and Assessment *Diversity and Difference ANOTHER INVITATION TO FURTHER RESEARCH WORKS CITED SUGGESTED REaDINGS FOR TEACHERS OF WRITING Bibliographies and Other Reference Works Rhetorical History, Theory, and Practice Composition History and Theory Composition Practice and Pedagogy Literacy Studies Axes of Difference Computers, Technology, and New Media FY Writing Programs: Models and Administrative Practices Pedagogic Issues for College Teachers PART III AN ANTHOLOGY OF ESSAYS INTRODUCTION work cited *Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle, Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re)Envisioning "First-Year Composition" as "Introduction to Writing Studies" *Donald M. Murray, The Teaching Craft: Telling, Listening, Revealing Wendy Bishop, Helping Peer Writing Groups Succeed *Muriel Harris, Talking in the Middle: Why Writers Need Writing Tutors Nancy Sommers, Responding to Student Writing *Andrea A. Lunsford and Karen J. Lunsford, "Mistakes are a Fact of Life": A National Comparative Study *Amy J. Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff, Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities Mike Rose, The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University Jacqueline Jones Royster, When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own *Stephanie L. Kerschbaum, Avoiding the Difference Fixation: Identity Categories, Markers of Difference, and the Teaching of Writing Ilona Leki, Meaning and Development of Academic Literacy in a Second Language *Paul Kei Matsuda, The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition *Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, Jacqueline Jones Royster, and John Trimbur, OPINION: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach Cynthia L. Selfe, Toward New Media Texts: Taking Up the Challenges of Visual Literacy *Anne Frances Wysocki, awaywithwords: On the Possibilities in Unavailable Designs *Cheryl Glenn, 2008 CCCC Chair’s Address: Representing OurselvesAcknowledgmentsIndex

Cheryl Glenn

Cheryl Glenn is Liberal Arts Research Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Before moving to Penn State, she taught at Oregon State University, where she earned a number of research and teaching awards and established the Center for Teaching Excellence. She also teaches at the Bread Loaf School of English, a summer graduate program for secondary teachers held in Vermont and New Mexico. Glenn’s scholarly work focuses on contexts and processes for the teaching of writing, histories of women’s rhetorics and writing practices, and inclusionary rhetorical practices and theories. Her many scholarly publications include Rhetoric Retold: Regendering the Tradition from Antiquity Through the Renaissance; Unspoken: A Rhetoric of Silence; Rhetorical Education in America; The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing; The Writer’s Harbrace Handbook; Making Sense: A Real-World Rhetorical Reader; and The Harbrace Guide for College Writers. She and J. Michael Hogan coedit Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation, a Pennsylvania State University Press series. With Shirley Wilson Logan, she coedits the Southern Illinois University Press series, Studies in Rhetorics and Feminisms. Glenn’s rhetorical scholarship has earned her three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), book awards from Choice and from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, a Best Article of the Year Award from College Composition and Communication, and an Outstanding Article Award from Rhetoric Review. She also has won four teaching awards. She has recently served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), and also serves in a variety of other leadership roles at Penn State and for the National Council of Teachers of English, the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, the Modern Language Association, the Rhetoric Society of America, and NEH.

Melissa A. Goldthwaite

Melissa A. Goldthwaite teaches rhetorical theory, composition, and creative writing (poetry writing, creative nonfiction, food writing, and nature writing) at Saint Joseph’s University, where she is Professor of English. For Bedford/St. Martin’s she is co-author with Cheryl Glenn of The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing. Her work has appeared in College English, Writing on the Edge, Reader, and in numerous books.